


Christmas at the Burrow - 12 Days of Drarry

by John5mith



Series: 12 Days of Drarry [12]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Mental Health Issues, Post-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 18:26:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5508155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John5mith/pseuds/John5mith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the Last Day Harry and Draco head to the Burrow for Christmas, but Draco can't help but feel unwelcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas at the Burrow - 12 Days of Drarry

**Author's Note:**

> Just going to throw this in here because I honestly wasn't sure how to tag this. This fic deals with both Draco and Harry suffering from PTSD, Draco more so than Harry. So I'll just let this serve as a warning.

Saying Draco was nervous would be the understatement of the year, and it was only getting worse with every step he took towards the Burrow. He could feel his palms getting sweatier, his heart racing in his chest. He pulled the sleeves of his sweater down despite the warm air.

_Merlin, what will they think of me?_ he wondered. He shouldn’t have come. He should’ve just sent Harry and Scorpius along without him, faked a cold or something. What had he been thinking? There was no way the Weasley’s would welcome him here, not after...

“Hey,” Harry looked at Draco. “You okay?”

Harry was usually a good anchor for these attacks, but not even the sight of his husband’s emerald eyes could bring him back.

“I should leave. You and Scor can go on.” Draco took a step back.

“Hey, hold on now.” Harry grabbed Draco’s hand. “Scor, go on to the Burrow, make sure Grandma Molly gets the cake, okay?” Harry looked at his son.

“Okay!” Scorpius said happily. 

“And put the presents under the tree!” Harry shouted when Scorpius was halfway across the field. He turned back to his husband. “What’s wrong?”

“I shouldn’t be here.” Draco closed his hand into a tight fist.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because Harry, everything I’ve done. Everything I’ve put these people through. I don’t need to be here. I’m not welcome.”

“Draco.” Harry gripped Draco’s shoulders. “Look at me.”

Draco stared into those eyes. 

“It’s going to be okay. Trust me.”

“But after all that-”

“That was ten years ago. And no one blames you for anything, it wasn’t your fault.”

“But it was.”

“No it wasn’t. It was a bad situation that you were dragged into. We all were. It’ll be okay.”

“I just, really think I should go. You and Scor will be fine without me.”

“Draco. Please. I promise you.” Harry sighed. “Listen, ten minutes. Stay here ten minutes. Then we’ll leave, I’ll tell Scor to fake a stomach ache or something.” Harry hated the idea of forcing Draco into this, but he couldn’t keep letting Draco run away from his family.

“Ten minutes?” Draco looked at Harry.

“Ten minutes.” Harry repeated.

“Okay.”

He was still a mess as they walked hand in hand up to the Burrow, but Draco had to admit that there was something slightly calming about having Harry there with him. His hand’s stopped sweating, but his heart was still racing a mile a minute, and he could feel this slight pressure at the back of his neck. The kind he always got during a panic attack.

Draco regretted giving into Harry’s request the moment they stepped into the dilapidated house. The second the door swung open he was met with the chaos of the kitchen. Molly Weasley over the corner, stirring something on the stove while the other inanimate utensils danced around her guided by spells. He and Harry had to duck as a hot pot of something flew over their heads and landed near the sink.

“Oh Harry!” Molly stopped what she was doing, but the spoon kept stirring whatever was in the bowl. “So nice to see you dear! And Draco!” She walked over to them, first grabbing Harry’s cheeks and kissing his forehead before doing the same to Draco.

“Nice to see you too Mrs. Weasley.” Harry said. “Scorpius gave you the cake right?”

“Oh yes dear. It looks delicious. I must say Draco, that boy is your spitting image. So handsome!”

“Do you need help with anything?” Draco offered.

“No, no dears, don’t worry yourself. Everyone’s in the living room now, you can go and join them.” Molly patted their backs, pushing them along through the archway. If the kitchen was chaos then the living room was a disaster. Children running around, playing with their new toys. Floating knitting needles weaved back and forth, constructing a scarf that was no less than twelve feet long.

“Uncle Harry! Uncle Draco!” Rose ran up to them, lunging at Draco’s knees and hugging them. Draco stood there, unsure of what to do next. He patted her red curls slowly and shot a begging glance at Harry.

Harry chuckled and knelt down to Rose. “And how is my favorite niece today?”

“You can’t say that! I’m your only niece.” She let go of Draco’s knees and smiled, showing off her missing front tooth.

“Well then I guess that makes you the best niece doesn’t it?”

She giggled. “Did you bring me a present?”

“Yeah, we did. Scor was supposed to drop it off. Where is he?”

Rose pointed to the stairs. “He went upstairs to help mommy wrap presents.”

“Thanks booger.” Harry rubbed her head and watched her run off to join her brother. He looked back at his husband, the discomfort still obvious on his face. 

“Harry! Draco!” At first neither of them recognized George. In the Weasley family red hair was a staple, but where George's once fiery locks had grown, he now had dark blue hair the shade of a night sky.

Draco froze.

“George, how are you?” Harry went in for a hug.

“Oh well mate!” George embraced him. No matter the hair color, there was no mistaking that face. “Yeah, the shop’s doing much better, especially with Ronald around.” He patted Harry’s back. “And how are you Mr. Potter?” George stuck his hand out for Draco to shake.

“Good to see you George. How’s Angela?” Draco shook the hand.

“She’s good. She’s actually upstairs helping Fleur with something in the attic.”

“George!” Molly called from the kitchen.

“That’s my cue, great to see you two again.”

“Hey.” He smiled. Draco looked at him as he took his hand, rubbing he thumb over Draco’s fingers. “Let’s go somewhere quiet.”

Draco couldn’t help but smile. He took Harry’s lead, and weaved through the playing children and up the spiral staircase to the second floor. Here it was definitely more calm, but the Burrow was still a mess. Clothes lying everywhere, books overstuffed with shelves, knick-knacks scattered about. 

Even this was stressing Draco out. Not to say their own home was immaculate by any means, but this was getting to be too much. He could feel his hands becoming clammy again, he tried to take his hand back to save Harry the feeling, but Harry wasn’t having it.

“You know, I used to wonder just how big this place was.” Harry said calmly. 

“Did you ever find out?” Draco asked, his voice wavering just ever so slightly.

“Nope, never did. I think they add a new room every time I come here.” Harry chuckled. Draco tried to laugh, but he couldn’t muster it. not even a fake one.

Harry pulled him into a random room, one that looked like it was meant for Mrs. Weasley’s sewing projects, but with the fine layer of dust on everything, it looked like it had gone unused. “What are we doing in here?” Draco asked.

“Nothing, I just wanted to look at you.” Harry smiled, flashing those white teeth.

Draco smiled back, an earnest smile this time. He wrapped his arms around Harry and put his head on Harry’s shoulder. He felt Harry’s hands move up to the back of his head, pulling him closer.

“You’re not okay are you?” Harry asked.

That was when Draco started crying. It was a soft quiet cry. The only way Harry could tell was the feeling of tears on his shoulders Draco left behind. Harry didn’t say anything. He just patted the back of Draco’s head, letting him get out whatever he needed to get out. “I’m sorry.” Draco said after a few minutes. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“It’s okay.” Harry rested his head on top of Draco’s. It was difficult to say that this had become the norm for the majority of the people in the house. War had forced children to grow up quicker than they should’ve. “Have you talked to Doctor Carrasto about it?”

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s helping though.” Draco let out another snob. “It’s just, every time I see them, I think about that night. Their faces, all that blood. Fr-”

“Hey, hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. It’s alright. Listen. Wait for me downstairs, okay? I’ll get Scor and we can leave.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, babe look at me.”

Draco looked at him with reddened eyes.

“It’s alright, I love you.” He kissed the top of Draco’s head. “I promise.” He released his husband. “Can you make it outside?”

Draco nodded.

“Okay. I’ll meet you down there.”

Harry turned and closed the door behind him, marching back over to the spiral staircase and climbing the floors.

“Scor!” He yelled out. Unless you knew where to look, finding someone in the Burrow was nearly impossible. “Scor!”

He saw the blond head poke up from the opening of the floor above, in the library, as expected. “Yeah dad?”

“It’s time to go buddy.”

“Really?”

Harry marched up the steps. “Yeah, dad’s not feeling so hot.”

“You dad, or dad-dad?”

“Dad-dad.” Harry chuckled.

“Okay, hang on.”

Harry climbed the final steps into the small library, if it could even be called that. Of course Hermione had been the main contributor to the sizable collection of books, but it was still lacking for the most part.

“Everything okay?” Hermione asked. She was wrapping a present. She wore a typical Weasley sweater with a golden ‘H’ against the crimson knitting, and her usually unruly hair had been calmed into a loose bun.

“Not really.”

“Draco have another panic attack?” She asked. Hermione was the only person Harry had confided in, and she was actually the person who’d suggested they both see a therapist to ease their anxieties. 

“Yeah.”

“Did dad have another bad one?” Scorpius asked. He was far too young to know so much about these kinds of things. But there was no avoiding an explanation, not when anything could trigger something for both his parents. 

“Why don’t you let Scor stay here? I’ll drop him off later.” Hermione placed a bow on one of the boxes.

“You sure?” Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah. Here.” Hermione handed Harry two small boxes. “These are from Ron and me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, go take care of your husband. We’ll get Scor.”

Harry kissed Hermione’s cheek and knelt down beside Scorpius. “Do you want to stay here?”

“I want to be with daddy.” Scorpius said. 

“You sure buddy? You don’t want to stay here and play with Rose and Hugo?”

Scorpius shook his head ‘no’.

“Okay.” He looked at Hermione. “Thanks anyway.”

“Love you, see you guys soon.” She kissed Scorpius’s cheek and went back to wrapping. 

“Is daddy going to be okay?” Scorpius asked.

“Yeah, he just needs some time.” Harry replied. They walked down the steps and back into the living room. “Let’s say bye to Grandma Molly before we leave, okay?” Harry led Scorpius around the long way to the kitchen.

“Okay.” Harry almost wished Scorpius would stay. Between Draco and Harry the kid had missed out on so much, never hating either of his father’s for it. He deserved better than what he’d gotten.

“Molly I-” Harry stopped in the doorway when he saw the two figures standing there.

“I’m so sorry.” Harry heard Draco say. But it wasn’t to him, it was to Molly, who had her arms wrapped around the man’s stomach, and her face buried in his chest. “I’m so sorry.” Harry could tell he was really crying now. His voice was broken and his hands were trembling in Molly’s hair.

“Listen buddy, go find Rose and Hugo okay? Daddy needs some alone time.”

Scorpius nodded and ran down the hallway, back towards the living room.

“Dear I don’t blame you. I can’t blame you. None of it was your fault.” Molly’s voice was still calm. Harry backed away, hiding from the two of them.

“But I helped him, and he-”

“Hush now.” She interrupted. She pulled away and looked him straight in the eye. Harry knew that face all too well. “You cannot blame yourself for what he did. Do you understand me? Draco it wasn’t your fault. It was an unavoidable situation, and you were pushed to the wrong side.

“None of us hate you." She continued. "We love you dear. As much as we love our own children. You’re one of us now.” She petted his cheek. “I was going to wait and give this to you later, but know seems like a good time.” She handed Draco a folded sweater, knitted with green yarn. And on the front was a single letter in gold. 

“A wise man once told me that it’s not where you begin, it’s where you end up. You’re a part of this family now Draco. Whether you like it or not, and we will always love you.”

Draco broke down again, wrapping his arms around Molly. “I’m so sorry.” He repeated.

“I know dear, I know. We all are. We should’ve helped you sooner.” She rubbed the back of Draco’s head. “I love you so much Draco.”

Draco pulled away and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. 

“Will you stay?” Molly asked. “Just until dinner, and then you can leave. Please.”

“I um, I think I can try.” Draco sniffed.

“Everything okay in here?” Harry walked in. 

“Well, not really. But Draco and I had a talk, and I think he’s decided to stay.” Molly said.

“Really?” Harry feigned ignorance. “That’s great. What made you change your mind?”

“Like I said, we had a talk, no hush and get onto the dining room. Dinner’s almost ready.” Molly pushed the two through another door and into the next room.

“I know you saw.” Draco whispered under his breath.

“Sorry. I just thought you two were having a moment, didn’t want to interrupt. What happened?”

“I told her we were leaving. She pretty much figured out the rest.” Draco wiped his irritated eyes one more time with his sleeve.

“You going to be okay?”

Draco nodded. “Maybe. I think so.”

**Author's Note:**

> So 12 Days of Drarry is done! Wow that was a lot of work, and next year I know to actually have all the stories ready to go before I start...  
> I wanted this last story to be something different. I actually had a smutty piece ready to go, but the more I wrote that, the more I liked the idea of making it a multi-chapter deal. And then I thought about Draco's first Christmas at the Weasley's. The guilt he'd feel having been a Death Eater, playing an indirect part in the death of Fred and everything else at the Battle of Hogwarts that pretty much just ruined our precious cinnamon bun.  
> So anyway, I really hope you guys like this!


End file.
